Poite joins Bryce on FB

French referee Romain Poite has joined New Zealander Bryce Lawrence on the list of 'most hated by South Africans'.

The Frenchman became persona non grata after his undue influence in New Zealand's 29-15 Rugby Championship win over South Africa in Auckland on Saturday.

New Zealand moved to the top of the Rugby Championship standings by beating South Africa 29-15 in controversial circumstances on Saturday.

In a game that saw five cards - four yellow and two of the yellow cards, to Bok hooker Bismarck du Plessis, becoming a red - the All Blacks outscored the Springboks by four tries to two.

However, it is the performance of the match officials that will be debated in the days and weeks to come.

And within hours of the match Facebook page appeared in which the angry fans called for Poite to be banned from the game.

This is similar to what happened to Lawrence after his diabolical display in Australia's World Cup quarterfinal win over South Africa in 2011. The hate campaign in the social media resulted in Lawrence never setting foot in South Africa again and retiring a year later.

The campaign against Poite has taken similar venomous undertones.

"Romain completely ruined a momentous game of Rugby SA vs NZ 14/09/2013... you just cannot get it so wrong... share your views and lets get the message over to the IRB in full force!," one reader said.

"Just a thought... with a 76 year legacy at stake... its really really difficult to not think that fixing was involved here somewhere... its a dreaded thought, but you just cannot be so blatantly wrong... Share this status if you agree...," another said in reference to the fact that the Springboks last won in Auckland back in 1937.